Ozinga Purpose Part 5: A Multigenerational Impact

This year, I have been writing a five-part series on the Ozinga purpose, which is to make a positive impact on individuals, their families and the community for generations. This fifth and final part of the series focuses on what we at Ozinga mean in the final two words of the purpose statement, “for generations.” 

Ozinga is a fourth-generation family business. The business is a physical reminder that we are beneficiaries of the impacts that were made by previous generations. While they may not have been perfect, we can trace back and recount the positive impacts they made that have instilled a legacy that has lived on for generations. 

This shared business legacy has informed our worldview and resulting purpose statement—that the decisions we make today as individuals will affect future generations of individuals, their families and the community, whether positively or negatively. Some of the positive characteristics of the Ozinga family legacy are sacrifice, service, stewardship, hard work, generosity, humility, a commitment to God, family and country, and helping the poor and the marginalized. 

These are not inherently natural virtues, but they are things that have been learned in practice that have led to fulfillment in life and business. These learnings have been passed down through the generations through discipline, accountability, storytelling and most importantly by our elders modeling them for us. The fact that these virtues are not natural means we need to regularly reflect on why we exist and what legacy we want to pass on. It takes daily discipline and perseverance to push against the inertia of our pride and selfish motivations that could easily derail this legacy at any moment. 

Every day is an opportunity to have a positive impact that may last for generations. We believe that every individual is uniquely gifted and qualified to fulfill their vocation. By doing one’s work really well, countless individuals are positively impacted now and long into the future. We want to remind ourselves and our coworkers that our efforts at work are very important and have implications that will affect people long after we are here. 

I want to share the Ozinga family’s conviction that the impacts we make in this life will affect not only future generations but all of eternity. This conviction comes from what we read in the Bible. Below are some of the passages that remind us of this. 

• “For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:5-6 NIV
• “What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 ESV
• “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
• “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 ESV
• “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
• “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ESV
• “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
• “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:12-13 NIV

Ozinga has been able to pass our business down through four generations, and our plan is to continue doing so into the future. We know that the decisions we make and the actions we take today can have a positive impact not only on the future generations of Ozinga, but the future of other individuals, their families and the community.